THE BIG SWIM

20"x16" acrylic on canvas

This is a painting of my dog Marty. He is a 10 year old yellow lab, but still has so much energy. My wife has trained him and competed in many agility competitions. Marty has won many awards. The painting shows Marty swimming in Lake Superior.

LAND OF THE BUFFALO

28"x22" acrylic on canvas

This is another painting from my Brookfield Zoo reference photos. It was a challenging painting with so much detail in the Buffalo. I also used my imagination a bit to create the background. This was a so much fun to paint and I learned a lot from it. Below is my original reference and a few close ups.

Mexican Gray Wolf

10"x8" acrylic on canvas

This is a painting of a Gray Wolf from Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. My family and I are members of the zoo and visit frequently. I love animals and enjoy observing them and how they interact with one another. Because of our membership, we can go and spend lots of time observing an exhibit or two and really study the animal. A benefit of this is that I get lots of photo reference for my paintings and maybe even a few drawings in my sketch book.

Wildlife is one of my favorite painting subjects. I enjoy the challenge of making an animal feel alive. I am very happy with the outcome of this piece.

Artists' Point

18"x24" acrylic on canvas

Artists' Point is one of my favorite places to sit and relax in Grand Marias, Minnesota. It is a rocky peninsula surrounded by Lake Superior. I love to hear the waves crash against the rocks, watch the boats come into the harbor, hike the trail and smell the pine trees.

This painting was so much fun to paint and it brought back memories of my trip.

Sunlit Trail

24"x36" acrylic on canvas

This is a painting from our trip to the North Shore in Minnesota. I took reference photos on a hike to "Devil's Kettle" a large waterfall at Judge C.R. Magney State Park. This trail was not the main trail to the waterfall, but the way the light hit the trees and the path really caught my eye. So of course I had to paint it.

1ST PLACE!

This weekend was the Danada Nature Art Show in Wheaton IL. I am excited to announce that I received the first place award for my painting "Refuge"! This is quite an honor for me as there were so many wonderful paintings and talented artists in this show. I wish we could have gotten a better photo though.

Refuge

10"x10" acrylic on canvas

This painting was a blast to paint. I usually do a brown or burnt sienna underpainting. This time I decided a cerulean blue underpainting would work nicely. I took the reference for this painting on our trip to the Grand Portage National Monument in Minnesota. My family and I were having a picnic and watching these seagulls standing on the rocks. I loved the way the waves washed over the rocks leaving a beautiful shine.

Cascade River

24"x24" acrylic on canvas

This painting is based on reference from my trip to the North Shore of Minnesota. The river is so beautiful with rich amber colors. The color of the water is fascinating, I was inspired to paint it the moment I saw it.. It is so peaceful along the rivers edge. I could just sit and relax for hours.

Here is a description of why the water has this unique color... The brown color comes from the water that drains out of the swamps and bogs into the river.  The decaying organic matter in the swamps creates humic acid.  This is what colors the water brown. The foam comes from the water tumbling over the rocks and waterfalls.  The aerated water with the humic acid and natural organic matter causes the foam.  Some of the dark color comes from iron deposits located along the river's course.  How do we know it's not pollution?  Because there isn't any development along the 17 miles of the Cascade River.  The Root Beer look of the Cascade River comes from all natural ingredients.

If you love nature and rivers with beautiful waterfalls, I would recommend a trip to the Cascade River State Park. There is so much to see along the North Shore of Minnesota. Here is a link for park info http://www.northshorevisitor.com/state-parks/cascade.html

3x3

72"x36" acrylic on canvas

This was one of those paintings that I was inspired to paint. I felt that it would be great as a large horizontal painting.  The references were taken from a walk at Danada Equestrian Center in Wheaton IL. where my family and I frequently visit for Sunday afternoon walks. I love horses and each one is unique and fascinating in there own way. I painted them so that they are kind of morphing from white to brown to add more interest into the painting.

This is by far the largest painting I have ever done. It was very challenging, but I was determined to finish. Now, I can't wait to move onto my next subject.

Camping Trip

My family and I went on a camping trip to Warren Dunes in Michigan this past weekend. We had a lot of fun. I didn't do any plein air painting, but I did take my sketchbook along. It was very challenging to draw people and boats in motion. It forced me to draw from memory at times because the subject would move or go away all together.